Statement from Former Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka
The masses of the country voted for the “pohottuwa” during the last presidential and general election in expectation of a change in the “system” promised by the leaders of the party. Unfortunately, those expectations were shattered within the shortest of time and this government is proving each day that it doesn’t even have the minimum level of empathy toward its countryman.
The wide spread suffering of the average man has become unbearable. The society is crumbling with economic hardships.
It has been one and half years since the COVID 19 pandemic brought the country to a standstill.
Schools are closed and millions of students are left without access to education. Government has failed to ensure equal availability of education to all and instead is stuttering with an online education program which further widens the in equalities of education.
Many under-privileged families in the rural as well as urban areas are under tremendous pressure to sustain ever more increasing data tariffs a financial burden with on-line education.
The Government is insensitive to the suffering of the under-privileged. They lack compassion and empathy. They don’t care about the education of our children.
There is nothing so idiotic than destroying the food supply and the agricultural production in the face of a pandemic.
An egoistic president, who lives in a fantasy world of which he is the “first” of everything, has taken a very ill-advised decision to ban chemical fertilizer and “go organic” at the snap of a finger.
This has created utter chaos in the agriculture sector. The farmer has lost his crop. The once fertile green fields of crop will become baron land very soon. The export agriculture sector is hit hard. With the crops being malnourished and destroyed, agricultural industry worth millions of dollars is ruined. Tea, vegetable, fruits and horticulture sectors are the hardest hit. Yet, the Government doesn’t care about the impending famine which will hit the poor first. It has no empathy towards the farmer who has lost his livelihood. They don’t care about the farmer.
From the day it became to power, this Government has become the enemy number one of the environment. Deforestation has become a normal practice. The precious costal lines and the fishing fields around the country are being destroyed. Vital marine environment is under threat of permanent destruction. The effects on the fishing communities is immense. Yet the Government doesn’t seem to notice. It has no empathy towards the suffering of the fishing families. It doesn’t care about the poor fisherman.
The prevailing situation has directly affected the daily paid manual worker. Construction sites and work places have halted their work.
The daily paid worker is unemployed and unpaid. On top of it the Government has burdened him with additional taxes. He is struggling to fill the plates for his children. The so called “committees” appointed to provide relief for these under-privileged has become laughing stock of the nation. Yet, the Government doesn’t see the empty stomachs of the poor man’s children. It doesn’t care about the daily paid worker.
The Governments “strategy” to manage the Corona epidemic is best example for its heartless nature. The pandemic has reached devastating levels in Sri Lanka due to the reckless nature in which it was handled.
Even at the face of such atrocities, the caboodle of the Government found a way to make money in means such as quarantine facility, importation of drugs, Antigen kits etc. on top of this the Government is manipulating and distorting important epidemiological data to deceive the general public.
It is a crime to distort health data and place the safety of the public at harms way. Yet the Government does not seem to understand. It does not care about the health of the public.
Even in the context of a national financial crisis and enormous suffering of the public the Government has not refrained from its surreptitious financial deals and shady business ventures. Precious land from the heart of the Colombo are being sold to foreigners under the disguise of development projects.
There is a proposal to militarise and privatise higher education. The country is at the brink of a financial disaster. Yet, the government doesn’t care even if the country became bankrupted.
This Government is an in-sensitive Government. It has no empathy towards the suffering of the fellow countryman. It doesn’t care about the plight of the nation.